Beyond sloganeering and damage control mechanism: the vicious circle of ethical transformation and value re-orientation campaigns in Nigeria

Rebranding Nigeria every time a new government comes to power is becoming a permanent feature of the country’s political life. Ethical transformation and value reorientation have always been the fundamental focus of governmental agencies and institutions, organizations, and non-governmental agencies due to the decay in values, ethics and morality in the society. This essay examines President Buhari administration’s “change agenda” within the context of the new rebranding campaign and how monotonous such has become in the polity over the years. It attests to the fact that successive occupants of political offices in Nigeria, particularly since the 80s, have never been dialectical in thoughts and action, and thus, their campaigns have suffered from the limitations of superficial bourgeois solutions to deeply structural social problems. Beyond what now appears to be mere campaign sloganeering or conscientious/desperate attempt at redeeming the image of a government that is fast losing its popularity among the citizens, this essay contends that there is the need for a radical development strategy that guarantees inclusiveness as opposed to exclusiveness in governance and that is people-driven from conception to implementation.